Perfect Strangers: Christians Living Among Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims

A well-known missionary pastor once observed, “We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first one.” After reading an October 2007 article in Evangelical Missions Quarterly, those words do not seem an exaggeration. Todd Johnson and Charles Tieszen’s article, “Personal Contact: The sine qua non of Twenty-First Century Christian Mission,” reiterates the importance of Christian contact with non-Christians while evaluating the condition of Christian witness at that time. The research presented reflected a serious need to refocus efforts in world evangelization.¹

Determining levels of contact

Johnson and Tieszen used two variables from a study of evangelization to determine the level of contact between Christians and non-Christians. The first, “discipling/personal work,” described how much contact local church members had with non-Christians. The second, “outside Christians,” considered the presence of Christians living near non-Christians.

Using these variables, the researchers produced a table showing major religious groups by continent and their contact with Christians. The groups included Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, nonreligious people, and ethnoreligionists. The study covered Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Northern America, and Oceania, estimating the percentage of non-Christians who personally knew a Christian in mid-2007.

The table offered a striking visual example of disparity in Christian contact throughout the world. It reported that 67.8% of Muslims in North America personally knew a Christian, compared with 10.4% in Asia. Asia was described as the most isolated continent in the study, with only 13.3% of its population of more than 3.6 billion at that time claiming to know a Christian.

While Johnson and Tieszen’s research led to eight primary findings, this article considers three:

1. Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims had relatively little contact with Christians.
2. Nonreligious people were more in touch with Christians than other religious groups, except in Asia.
3. Globally, more than eighty percent of all non-Christians did not personally know a Christian.

The finding that Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims had little contact with Christians was perhaps not surprising. In the article’s 2007 context, however, this finding was viewed as deeply concerning.

Getting Christians in contact with their neighbors

How should Christians respond? Johnson and Tieszen encouraged Christians to be deliberate about encountering Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims. This could mean living in a predominantly Muslim area, learning about Buddhism to support informed dialogue, learning another language to communicate clearly, or extending hospitality and kindness to immigrants. At the core of each example was the need to be intentional.

According to the researchers, many nonreligious people who knew a Christian were former Christians or Western atheists reacting against Christianity. The article’s proposed response was for Christians to live in a way that exalted Christ and demonstrated abundant love. It argued that personal contact and meaningful relationships were also central to engaging nonreligious people.

The third finding was presented as the most troubling. If more than eighty percent of non-Christians did not know a Christian, the author asked, what opportunity did they have to learn about Christianity through a relationship? The article emphasized that, throughout Christian history, the message of Christ had largely been communicated personally.

God’s presence among the Hebrew people and Christ’s presence among humanity were offered as models of personal contact. The article therefore called Christians to live among people with little opportunity to encounter Christian faith and to reevaluate the focus of mission resources. Johnson and Tieszen reported that “ninety percent of Christian resources for mission are directed at Christians,” prompting a call to refocus efforts on people with little chance to know a Christian.

Measured—and found wanting

These findings suggested that the global Christian community had been measured and found wanting. The research invited readers to reconsider methods of evangelism at both individual and group levels. Any method used to reach non-Christians, the article argued, should result in meaningful relationships rooted in love and compassion.

There would undoubtedly be areas to improve, and the article expressed confidence that God would continue to grow his kingdom through Christians obedient to his commands. It concluded with the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 10:14:

“But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”